Would You Use The Coffee Cup Trick in Your Workforce Recruitment Interviews?

Job interviews can be tricky for both the employer and the employee. Some interviewers have a way of assessing their interviewees’ responses and behavior in a way that they feel confident reflects whether a job candidate will be a good fit for their company. The Manchester Evening News published an article by Matthew Cooper, with what he thinks is the perfect trap for potential employees. He interviews employer Trent Innes about what he calls the ‘coffee cup trick.’

If you’re an employer, GrantWatch have current grant listings for business owners under a number of categories. One such category is workforce grants which can cover some of the job skills training or retraining costs for new hires in in-demand fields where the need for skilled workers is greater than the current supply.

How do you choose your employees? Do you have any telltale signs to know if someone will be a good fit for your organization?

According to Workopolis, the best interviews include at least a few questions to get to know the following:

• Attitude and motivation: how does the candidate accept direction, feedback, and works under pressure?
• Loyalty and work ethic: how committed are they to the job and their career?
• Honesty: while embellishment may be expected, lies are not acceptable.
• Preferred managerial style: do they like to be hand-held or do they thrive when working autonomously?

Behavioral interview questions are designed to uncover insights beyond just technical skills. They list 3 tricks to find out if an applicant is the right fit and 7 telling questions that reveal a candidate’s true potential.

The Coffee Cup Trick

A job interview is essentially a 30-minute mind game between employer and potential employee.

Can one party convince the other that they are the perfect person for the company and avoid acting like themselves by any means necessary?

And can the employer set traps for the other party to navigate or fall through that will let them know if this interviewee is a great future recruit?

This employer thinks he has the perfect trap – the ‘coffee cup trick’. Metro reports that Trent Innes of software firm Zero Australia uses the trick in every single interview.

Whenever someone comes in for an interview, Trent will take them on a walk deliberately past the kitchen and make sure they come away with a hot drink. After the interview is all done, Trent watches to see if the person offers or attempts to take the empty coffee/tea cup back to the kitchen.

It’s an easy way to find out how selfless someone is. If they just leave their cup at the table and leave, they won’t get the job.

Speaking on a podcast, Trent Innes said: ‘If you do come in and have an interview, as soon as you come in and you do meet me, I will always take you for a walk down to one of our kitchens and somehow you always end up walking away with a drink.

‘Then we take that back, have our interview, and one of the things I’m always looking for at the end of the interview is, does the person doing the interview want to take that empty cup back to the kitchen?

‘You can develop skills, you can gain knowledge and experience but it really does come down to attitude, and the attitude that we talk a lot about is the concept of “wash your own coffee cup”.

So do the washing up.

Nonprofit managers and small business owners can take advantage of workforce grants when they hire eligible candidates.

Grants to USA Nonprofits for Career Development Projects that Benefit Youth and Veterans with Disabilities. The deadline to submit proposals is July, 15th, but a new round of funding will begin in January 2020.

Details: Grants ranging from $10,000 to $75,000 to USA nonprofit organizations for projects that benefit youth with disabilities. Projects should help youth develop skills needed for successful employment, especially for work in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and design, and mathematics. The Foundation will also consider projects that create tools to break down barriers to employment and increase job opportunities for young people with disabilities entering the workforce, including returning veterans with disabilities.